Bakune Young: The Weirdest Yakuza Manga Ever Made
What’s more macho and thrilling than a yakuza story? Characters swerving deadly bullets by a sheer millimeter and the development of inhuman crimes feed our imaginations and fantasies. Spine-chilling yet enthralling, these mob stories are ambitious and representative of the modern ideals of masculinity. Bakune Young takes these ideas and spits them back out as a frenetic, unhinged chase putting policemen, gangsters, and sumo wrestlers in an enclosed ring.
Bakune Young seriously let his intrusive thoughts take over from the get-go. Hanging out at a shady pachinko, the even shadier Bakune Young strolls in with his earphone shoved in his ears, while singing his lungs out. This ticks off a low-ranking member of the yakuza at the pachinko who tells him to tone it down, but Bakune decides to tone it up instead: slamming his opponent’s face in a pachinko machine, the obnoxious main character declares war on the Japanese organized crime group by keeping a yakuza boss hostage. From there, an alarmingly violent succession of tests and battles follow one after the other.
This manga by Toyokazu Matsunaga starts off strong and doesn’t stop escalating. Interestingly enough, this manga, which kind of is its own genre, isn’t widespread. Reviewers are either repulsed by the offbeat storyline and grotesque, parodic art, while others rave about it.
The anti-hero Bakune Young is a sadistic idiotic yet highly intelligent character, playing on his mastermind traits when convenient. Comedy harmoniously weaves with irony to set the tone for this blatantly manic manga and its uncontrollably savage characters. Graphic, heavy, and pulpy, this one is worth a look, especially for hardcore manga fanatics.
About the Author:
Mizuki Khoury
Born in Montreal, based in Tokyo. Sabukaru’s senior writer and works as an artist under Exit Number Five.
